The Importance of Treating OCD Earlier: The Washington Post Article on Ethan’s Struggle from Childhood OCD through Adulthood

In people who develop obsessive-compulsive disorder, there are often signs in childhood. However, OCD in children can be hard to distinguish from childhood fears and age-appropriate magical thinking. For OCD Awareness Week, The Washington Post published an article by Sarah Maraniss-Vander Schaaf about the experiences of Ethan, a young man who developed OCD in childhood. It’s an effort to help people look past the stereotypes of people with OCD as being excessively clean and organized or washing their hands excessively. As the writer notes:

“…true OCD is often unspoken. It’s hard to recognize, as well, when growing up in a family where anxiety is normal, or in a school where behavior might be labeled school avoidance, or when no one else talks about the secret rituals that are too private to mention.”

The article traces the development of Ethan’s OCD from early childhood, though college, and the following decade of adulthood. It documents how OCD obsessions and rituals can escalate when left untreated and unchecked, and it provides a sober illustration of how the accommodation by the loved ones of someone with OCD’s obsessions/rituals—however well-meaning—can have disastrous consequences over time.

I’ve written in other posts about how some people with OCD have difficulty accessing appropriate treatments. Ethan was eventually accurately diagnosed and offered effective treatment, but it took several attempts before he was fully willing and able to engage treatment. He was even kicked out of OCD Institute at McLean Hospital, one of the leading residential treatment programs for people with OCD. Ethan didn’t recover from OCD until he was willing to commit to proper treatment—particularly exposure and response prevention. Ms. Maraniss-Vander Schaaf writes:

His improvement came when he accepted CBT and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). He was taught to develop a new relationship with his thoughts. He learned to live with the uncertainties of life and not push away anxiety with obsessive-compulsive thoughts and actions.

Ethan’s story is inspiring as, even after 2 decades of struggling with severe OCD, he is currently enjoying a productive and independent life. As I work with adults, I don’t often have a full view of how OCD progresses across the lifespan in the clients I see. I found this article of Ethan’s personal journey into OCD illuminating in how it presents a narrative of someone’s struggles with OCD across more than 2 decades, and the way OCD symptoms can change, transform, and evolve over time.

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